By R Anil Kumar
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Marco Rubio has called on the United Nations for a Hormuz solution as talks for a peace deal in Iran continue.
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US monitors Hormuz tensions as shipping concerns grow, Rubio stresses ‘defensive’ stance
New York/ Bengaluru, May 7, 2026. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged the United Nations to pressure Iran “to stop blowing up ships, remove the mines and allow humanitarian relief” in the Strait of Hormuz, he told reporters.
UN Security Council members began closed talks on Tuesday on a resolution the United States has drafted with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, which, if passed, could lead to sanctions against Iran, and potentially authorise force if Tehran fails to halt attacks and threats to commercial shipping in the strait.
The closure of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies are shipped during peacetime, has caused the price of oil to rocket and prompted fears of a global economic crisis.
However, the Trump administration has taken a hostile approach to the UN since Donald Trump’s inauguration as president in January 2025, and has appeared to prefer to forge its own path on the international stage.
So why has the US turned to the UN for support now, and what is the significance of the latest developments?
What has the Trump administration said about the UN?
On Tuesday, Rubio said the US-proposed UN resolution demanding that Iran cease attacks in the Strait of Hormuz would be a test of the “utility” of the United Nations, and urged China and Russia not to repeat vetoes.
“If the international community can’t rally behind this and solve something so straightforward, then I don’t know what the utility of the UN system is,” Rubio said.
Since Donald Trump began his second term as US president last year, Washington has undermined the UN and the existing international rules-based order.
In September 2025, during his speech at the UN General Assembly, Trump questioned: “What’s the purpose of the United Nations?”
He added: “The UN has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”
In the same speech, Trump claimed his administration had ended “seven unendable wars” without any assistance from the body, adding, “It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them.”
In January this year, Trump assembled a “Board of Peace” as a part of a US-brokered plan to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
When a reporter asked Trump if he wanted the Board of Peace to replace the UN, Trump said that it “might”.
What UN Security Council resolution has the US proposed?
The US and its Gulf allies have proposed a UN Security Council resolution threatening Iran with sanctions and other measures if it does not halt attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, stop imposing “illegal tolls”, and disclose the placement of all mines to allow freedom of navigation.
The draft resolution, seen by some international media, also demands that Iran “immediately participate in and enable” UN efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor in the strait for the delivery of vital aid, fertiliser and other goods.
It is the latest effort by the US and its Gulf allies to reopen the strait after an initial resolution aimed at opening the strait was vetoed by China and Russia, hours before Washington and Tehran announced their temporary ceasefire in early April.
While Rubio said he looks forward to the vote on the resolution in the coming days, he also told journalists on Tuesday that he remained uncertain if “slight adjustments” the US had made to the text would be enough to avoid a veto from Tehran’s allies on the council.
A previous Bahraini resolution, which was backed by the US and appeared to open a path to legitimise military action against Iran, failed last month when Russia and China exercised their vetoes in the 15-member Security Council.
The new draft avoids explicit language about authorising force while still operating under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to impose measures ranging from sanctions to military action.
“Everyone wouldn’t want to see this vetoed again, and we’ve made some slight adjustments to the language,” Rubio told reporters at a White House news briefing, while adding: “I don’t know if it will avoid a veto or not.”
“I think it’s a real test to the UN … as something that functions,” he added.
The draft also calls on Tehran to cooperate with UN efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor through the strait, citing the disruption of aid deliveries, fertiliser shipments and other essential goods.
The UN secretary-general would report back within 30 days on compliance and the Security Council would reconvene to consider additional steps, including possible sanctions, if Iran is found to have failed to implement the resolution.
When could this resolution be implemented?
Washington reportedly hopes to conclude discussions between Security Council members quickly, with the aim of circulating a final draft of the resolution by Friday and holding a vote early next week, although Russia and China still have a competing text under consideration.
Asked if the resolution could avoid another Chinese veto, China’s UN mission said: “The draft was circulated yesterday in the afternoon. We are still doing our assessment.”
Russia’s UN mission did not immediately respond.
Gulf states urge UN action to ensure Strait of Hormuz safety
Draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks, disclose mines, and ensure humanitarian aid passage through the Strait.
Meanwhile, Gulf states are pushing a United Nations Security Council resolution that threatens Iran with sanctions and other measures if it does not halt attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, stop imposing “illegal tolls”, and disclose the location of all mines to allow freedom of navigation.
Speaking at the UN on Thursday, May 7, top diplomats from Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stressed the importance of resuming pre-war traffic levels in the narrow waterway through which about a fifth of global energy exports pass.
Ensuring the strait remains open is a “demand set forth” by UN conventions, as well as a “shared international responsibility,” said Qatar’s ambassador to the UN, Alya Ahmed Saif al-Thani. The current situation “not only jeopardises global economic stability and energy security but also worsens humanitarian crises and undermines regional stability,” she added.
The three Gulf nations co-drafting the resolution, along with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United States, also demand that Iran “immediately participate in and enable” UN efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor in the strait to deliver vital aid, fertiliser and other goods.
The oil and gas-rich countries have found themselves on the front line of the war between Tehran and Washington. After the US and Israel started attacking Iran in late February, the Islamic Republic has responded by striking energy and civilian infrastructure in neighbouring countries around the Gulf. Iran has also brought traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a near total standstill, making transit too risky. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipelines to bypass the narrow waterway and allow some exports, other Gulf nations, such as Qatar, have been forced to halt energy exports.
As global gas and oil prices soared, the Trump administration imposed an embargo on Iranian ports, impeding Tehran’s ability to export its oil.
Bahrain’s envoy to the UN, Jamal Alrowaiei, highlighted the need for “collective action” to keep the strait “safe, secure and fully open”.
“The draft resolution is guided by the clear principle: freedom of navigation in accordance with international law.”
Mohammed Issa Abushahab, the UAE’s representative to the UN, added that “international waterways cannot be controlled through coercion, through coercion attacks or threats against civilian and commercial shipping”.
“The resolution demands the disclosure and removal of sea mines placed in and around the Strait of Hormuz. It rejects the imposition of illegal tolls and interference with freedom of navigation and lawful transit passage. It supports the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the movement of aid, fertiliser, and other essential goods through the strait,” said Abushahab.
‘A simple demand’:
The US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, condemned reports that Iran was launching a Persian Gulf Straits Authority, which would impose tolls on ships crossing the waterway, calling the dispersal of seamen in the Strait a “cynical bid for leverage”.
“Collective punishment of the entire world to try to resolve some type of dispute is unacceptable, it’s immoral, and it’s illegal in international law,” he said.
“This should be a simple demand. The removal of mines from an international waterway that you cannot exact illegal tolls. We have to address these violations, here in the council, and we have to ask ourselves if a country chooses to oppose such a simple proposition, do they really want peace,” Waltz said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said navigation will return to normal in the strait if the war ends and the blockade, as well as sanctions against his country, are lifted.
Talking about the draft UN resolution, he added that it ignores the reason for the current situation in the strait, blaming the US’s use of force and attacks on Iran.
A previous Bahraini resolution, which was backed by the US and appeared to open a path to legitimise military action against Iran, failed last month when Russia and China exercised their vetoes in the 15-member Security Council.
The new draft avoids explicit language about authorising force while still operating under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to impose measures ranging from sanctions to military action.
Washington reportedly hopes to conclude discussions between Security Council members quickly, with the aim of circulating a final draft of the resolution by Friday and holding a vote early next week, although Russia and China still have a competing text under consideration.
